Sounds simple enough, and it is. Basically, by the end of the lesson, students will be able to describe simple shapes and their relative locations on a page to their partner. This exercise is a review for confirmation questions and clarification questions that were covered in previous lessons. As well, it is a great way to practice giving directions. It progresses step by step and is very formulaic so that lower level students can participate without two much trouble. Here are a few shots of the PPt showing how the lesson moves from easy to more complex.
I have used the lesson successfully from novice to advanced level students and have even had these two extremes in ability partnered together and communicating.
Students really enjoy this lesson, especially at the end where they can create their own pictures and then try to explain them to their partners. They really feel that they have accomplished something. And since giving directions can be difficult, even in one's own language, I think that it offers a good challenge for anyone, regardless of ability.
An appropriate assignment to follow this up might be to have the photograph the shapes outside of the classroom. You could impose certain conditions, such as "a square inside a circle" and they must find it on a building. You could even make it into a scavenger hunt, giving points based on difficulty. Just some thoughts...
ReplyDeleteI agree with Steve on this one. Ive taught the same topic and I had my students use there phones and run around the school and take pictures of each shape I had taught. I also added a funny part where the kids themselves had to create a shape using only their bodies.They had to twist and contort themselves into some "freaky" pretzel shapes...hahahah. I did the same thing with the alphabet. Kids just ate that up. Another thing that I did was to make the kids draw animals, objects but only using shapes. This is one reason why I love teaching kids, there are so many fun activities that can be done with them...can't see these activities work with university students..well...maybe after a few bottles of soju!
ReplyDeleteI never thought about teaching how to give directions with shapes. This could also work really well with my lesson on prepositions of locations. I think this would work especially well in our university as our students’ level of English is so low. The students might feel less intimidated because the objects are so simple. Like Steve mentioned, I already give my students a scavenger hunt and put them in group of threes. I give them a list of places in the campus, or things they need to take pics of with their phone (i.e. take a pic next to the big circular clock, or in front of the elevator on the 12th floor) and make it an amazing race type deal. Whichever group returns quickest with all the correct pictures gets 5 points extra on their midterms. Oh and when they return and are showing me the pics, I make each one tell me where they are standing in relation to the object of the pic, without looking at their sheet of paper (i.e. I am standing next to the clock, or I am standing in front of the elevator).
ReplyDeleteThis is a great lesson Patrick, I was using something similar to this in my class as a conversation activity but with regular pictures and asking them to describe them to one another. That you for bringing another learning objective to this.
ReplyDeleteI love really simple ideas like this. Grammar is terrifying even for native speakers of English, and if you can come up with simple ways for students to put the grammar they've learned to use, it's great!
ReplyDeleteHave you ever tried to add something of your own personal interest to your lessons? I have a buddy who has a little Scottish terrier and puts a little graphic of it in everything. It's just an extra little bit of fun for his students and it also lets them get to know you a bit better. It could work really well in this lesson especially.
At our school we use a scavenger hunt to teach prepositions and perspective. This could be another useful addition to that material. And it's fun! This kind of learning is much more effective than suffering through the same old grammatical exercises in a textbook. I'm excited to try this one out! Awesome idea! Thanks!